Desktop Support Contract Job Trends

Desktop Support
UK

The median Desktop Support daily rate in the UK is £210, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 October 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 473 310 328
Rank change year-on-year -163 +18 -22
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Support 208 262 247
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.38% 0.79% 0.65%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.87% 0.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 164 160
10th Percentile £140 £147 £135
25th Percentile £170 £162 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £213 £204
Median % change year-on-year -1.18% +4.29% +1.88%
75th Percentile £240 £250 £234
90th Percentile £284 £278 £269
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £215 £203
% change year-on-year -2.33% +6.17% +1.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 44 18
10th Percentile £13.70 £13.75 £18.09
25th Percentile £17.25 £14.78 £19.15
Median hourly rate £22.00 £23.23 £24.18
Median % change year-on-year -5.29% -3.93% +24.00%
75th Percentile £23.50 £31.40 £27.00
90th Percentile £24.28 £33.75 £29.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.00 £25.15 £24.18
% change year-on-year -16.50% +4.01% +37.39%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 50,598 30,120 35,393
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.17% 90.94% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,800 19,028 21,472
10th Percentile £325 £278 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £631 £623 £638
90th Percentile £734 £725 £748
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,975 1,619 1,553
10th Percentile £14.45 £13.75 £14.88
25th Percentile £19.78 £17.30 £20.75
Median hourly rate £41.74 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.94% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.50 £51.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.00 £68.31 £74.97
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.87 £25.08 £43.00
% change year-on-year +66.97% -41.69% -1.88%

Desktop Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Desktop Support' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Desktop Support job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 2 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Support job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Desktop Support over the 6 months to 2 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Desktop Support in the UK

Desktop Support
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Support within the UK over the 6 months to 2 October 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -159 181 £210 -2.33% 65
UK excluding London -142 129 £210 -2.33% 36
London -80 76 £225 +4.05% 33
North of England -84 35 £235 +11.90% 10
North West -49 27 £235 +11.90% 5
South East -71 27 £180 -16.28% 7
Scotland -24 18 £163 +8.70% 3
Midlands -61 17 £218 +25.72% 10
South West -70 15 £225 -4.26% 2
East of England -19 12 £190 -13.64% 4
West Midlands -45 12 £210 +20.00% 6
Work from Home -71 9 £226 -9.50% 11
Yorkshire -38 8 £240 +2.13% 5
Northern Ireland +8 5 £175 +6.06%
East Midlands -17 5 £250 +52.21% 4
Wales -15 1 - -

Desktop Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 2 October 2026, Desktop Support contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Desktop Support in the job title.

1 148 (71.15%) Windows
2 93 (44.71%) Microsoft
3 89 (42.79%) Microsoft 365
4 79 (37.98%) Active Directory
5 64 (30.77%) ITIL
6 62 (29.81%) Customer Service
7 53 (25.48%) ITSM
8 44 (21.15%) Windows 10
9 40 (19.23%) SCCM
10 36 (17.31%) Microsoft Intune
10 36 (17.31%) Security Cleared
11 35 (16.83%) ServiceNow
12 34 (16.35%) Service Management
13 31 (14.90%) SC Cleared
14 30 (14.42%) Service Delivery
15 27 (12.98%) Degree
15 27 (12.98%) Problem-Solving
16 26 (12.50%) SLA
17 25 (12.02%) SharePoint
17 25 (12.02%) VPN
18 23 (11.06%) Azure
18 23 (11.06%) Citrix
19 22 (10.58%) Asset Management
19 22 (10.58%) Entra ID
19 22 (10.58%) Mac OS
19 22 (10.58%) Migration
19 22 (10.58%) Virtual Desktop
20 21 (10.10%) Android
20 21 (10.10%) Apple iOS
21 20 (9.62%) PowerShell

Desktop Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 25 (12.02%) SharePoint
2 13 (6.25%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.48%) Confluence
3 1 (0.48%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 15 (7.21%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.48%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.44%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.48%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 89 (42.79%) Microsoft 365
2 23 (11.06%) Azure
3 22 (10.58%) Entra ID
4 17 (8.17%) OneDrive
5 7 (3.37%) SaaS
6 2 (0.96%) Slack
7 1 (0.48%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 25 (12.02%) VPN
2 13 (6.25%) DHCP
2 13 (6.25%) TCP/IP
3 12 (5.77%) DNS
3 12 (5.77%) Wireless
4 10 (4.81%) LAN
5 8 (3.85%) Wi-Fi
6 3 (1.44%) Cisco IOS
6 3 (1.44%) Network Security
6 3 (1.44%) Value-Added Service
7 2 (0.96%) Firewall
7 2 (0.96%) Internet
7 2 (0.96%) Remote Desktop
7 2 (0.96%) WAN
7 2 (0.96%) WebEx
8 1 (0.48%) NAS
8 1 (0.48%) SD-WAN
8 1 (0.48%) Skype
8 1 (0.48%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.48%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.48%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (1.92%) JIRA
General
1 87 (41.83%) Social Skills
2 43 (20.67%) Finance
3 21 (10.10%) Banking
4 18 (8.65%) Organisational Skills
5 14 (6.73%) Financial Institution
6 13 (6.25%) Investment Banking
7 12 (5.77%) Legal
8 11 (5.29%) Telecoms
9 10 (4.81%) Spanish Language
10 7 (3.37%) Analytical Skills
11 6 (2.88%) Front Office
12 4 (1.92%) Law
13 3 (1.44%) Manufacturing
13 3 (1.44%) Public Sector
14 2 (0.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 1 (0.48%) Documentation Skills
15 1 (0.48%) Pharmaceutical
15 1 (0.48%) Presentation Skills
15 1 (0.48%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (3.37%) Software Packaging
2 1 (0.48%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 48 (23.08%) Onboarding
2 18 (8.65%) Driving Licence
3 15 (7.21%) Video Conferencing
4 14 (6.73%) Hedge funds
5 11 (5.29%) Smartphone
6 7 (3.37%) Management Information System
7 5 (2.40%) iPhone
8 4 (1.92%) Mobile App
9 3 (1.44%) CMDB
10 2 (0.96%) Augmented Reality
10 2 (0.96%) BYOD
10 2 (0.96%) Data Protection Act
10 2 (0.96%) Mobile Computing
10 2 (0.96%) NHS
10 2 (0.96%) Virtual Reality
11 1 (0.48%) Blackberry
11 1 (0.48%) Data Centre
11 1 (0.48%) Enterprise Software
11 1 (0.48%) iPad
11 1 (0.48%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 148 (71.15%) Windows
2 44 (21.15%) Windows 10
3 22 (10.58%) Mac OS
4 21 (10.10%) Android
4 21 (10.10%) Apple iOS
5 5 (2.40%) Windows 7
6 4 (1.92%) Linux
6 4 (1.92%) Windows Server
7 3 (1.44%) Windows XP
8 1 (0.48%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (30.77%) ITIL
2 62 (29.81%) Customer Service
3 53 (25.48%) ITSM
4 34 (16.35%) Service Management
5 30 (14.42%) Service Delivery
6 27 (12.98%) Problem-Solving
7 22 (10.58%) Asset Management
7 22 (10.58%) Migration
8 13 (6.25%) Incident Management
9 12 (5.77%) Break/Fix
9 12 (5.77%) Continuous Improvement
10 10 (4.81%) Data Protection
10 10 (4.81%) Inventory Management
10 10 (4.81%) Mobile Device Management
11 8 (3.85%) Problem Management
11 8 (3.85%) User Experience
12 7 (3.37%) Change Management
12 7 (3.37%) Software Deployment
13 6 (2.88%) AI
13 6 (2.88%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 20 (9.62%) PowerShell
2 3 (1.44%) Python
2 3 (1.44%) SQL
2 3 (1.44%) VBScript
3 1 (0.48%) Bash
Qualifications
1 36 (17.31%) Security Cleared
2 31 (14.90%) SC Cleared
3 27 (12.98%) Degree
4 13 (6.25%) A+ Certification
5 6 (2.88%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (1.92%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.92%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (1.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (1.44%) DV Cleared
7 3 (1.44%) ITIL Certification
7 3 (1.44%) Microsoft Certified Professional
7 3 (1.44%) Network+ Certification
8 1 (0.48%) CCNP
8 1 (0.48%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.48%) CTC Cleared
8 1 (0.48%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (12.50%) SLA
System Software
1 79 (37.98%) Active Directory
2 22 (10.58%) Virtual Desktop
3 11 (5.29%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.44%) BitLocker
4 3 (1.44%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.96%) Firmware
6 1 (0.48%) vSphere
6 1 (0.48%) zsh
Systems Management
1 40 (19.23%) SCCM
2 36 (17.31%) Microsoft Intune
3 4 (1.92%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.48%) WSUS
Vendors
1 93 (44.71%) Microsoft
2 35 (16.83%) ServiceNow
3 23 (11.06%) Citrix
4 11 (5.29%) Apple
4 11 (5.29%) VMware
5 7 (3.37%) Cisco
6 6 (2.88%) HP
7 5 (2.40%) Adobe
7 5 (2.40%) McAfee
7 5 (2.40%) Tanium
8 4 (1.92%) Bloomberg
8 4 (1.92%) Samsung
9 3 (1.44%) Autodesk
9 3 (1.44%) BeyondTrust
9 3 (1.44%) Dell
9 3 (1.44%) Meraki
9 3 (1.44%) Remedy
9 3 (1.44%) Symantec
10 2 (0.96%) Google
11 1 (0.48%) Altiris